Yesterday we took Davey to Build-a-Bear.

First we had to choose the bear.  This was not an easy decision.

We came really close to adopting Rambo the Camouflage Bear.  Here David is pointing to another bear, but Davey had  his eye on Camo Bear.

But then Davey saw Midnight Bear, and he loved him immediately.

Davey assisted in the stuffing of Winkie.

Then it was time to choose Winkie’s outfit.  Davey insisted that Winkie Rockstar needed underpants.

We took Winkie to the “dressing room” and contemplated several outfits.

We finally realized that Winkie was a rockstar, and that there was no denying him.

Davey and Winkie hugged:

Then Davey wanted to take him to the salon fluffing area for abit.

After Davey got him all fluffed up, it was time to leave. We tucked Winkie away into his little house for a nap.

Then we completed the necessary paperwork.  Davey had immediately wanted to name him Winkie.  Davey has a zhu zhu pet named Winkie.  He recently got a horse stuffed animal.  Named him Winkie as well.  He decided though that this Winkie would be Winkie Rockstar.

Winkie Rockstar is doing great in his new home.  He slept with Davey last night.  He needs some pajamas, but I think he slept well anyway.

This morning we went to story hour, and then we met up with David for lunch. He loved story hour today, and then he is always happy to go meet up with Daddy.

We (I) were (was) tired when we got home.  Davey and I both have had this really minor stomach bug.  We were pretty much over it today, but he bounced back a little quicker than his “older” mom.

So we did some puzzles.

He got silly with the puzzles.

More silliness:

Then he decided that it was high time that he learned to use the camera.  It was fun to watch him wield that rather big camera.  Especially large in his small  hands.  He soon got the hang of just pushing the black button down a little until he heard the beep.  Then he started taking pictures like crazy.  He seemed to adopt my approach.  Take a million pictures and then get a neat one here and there.  Well I thought it was a neat one.

Tonight he got out the big puffy pipe cleaner toy things.  I can’t remember what they are called. They are fun though.

More silliness.  (He is not afraid to flare those tonsils!)

Then he wanted to take over the camera again.

And then it was bedtime.  Stories, and lots of, “I’m not tired.  I’m gonna stay up ’til mornin’.”   He’s not been real interested in sleeping lately.  He’s so very busy.

Today was Davey’s medal day at tum tum tumbling.  He has not been going to tumbling for long, but he has already gained so much confidence.  It’s been so good for him.  Today he was whipping out the forward rolls, and he let Miss Heather take him across the balance beam and end with a forward roll!

Here he is working hard with Miss Heather.

He did the rotation they had set up over and over again.  He was just having a big time.

Finally it was time for the medal ceremony.  He just finished up the Super Beasts session, and he will be starting in the Funny Bugs.  Now, he will go in without me, and I will watch from behind the glass.  I told him that I can come in whenever he needs me, but I am foolin’ myself.  He is very independent and I imagine he will be just fine.  I think I wrote that when I left him there for a 3 hour camp,  my return was met with tears and fears that I was going to make him leave!

So the medal.  He ran up as fast as he could go with that great goofy legs back and forth to the sides maneuver he does.

His slightly shy triumphant wave. (My camera was not cooperating too well.  Actually, I think I was in bad light and didn’t have the sense to move. )

It was a fun day for him.  He was asking me about Miss Heather right before he fell asleep.  I watched him talk and talk.  His voice kept getting quieter.  Then silence, and he was asleep.

Today is January 11th.  David’s assigned “deadline” for the completion of The Sweater.  Today I finished the back for the second time.  I am running just a little behind.  It’s alright.

We had a pretty good snowstorm on Sunday.   Actually, being Colorado newbies, we found it to be pretty darn excellent.

Also, being a Colorado newbie, I thought that schools might be closed today.  Nope.  Actually some were, but many were not.  Ours was not.

David wrote a poem about this:

“I’m new to this country,
so what do I know,
though I doubt folks up here,
are deterred by some snow.”

At 6am, David warmed up the Jeep for me, got the snow brushed off, and he even made a trek to the main road which we take almost all the way to school.  He was satisfied that traffic was moving ok, so off I went.  It wasn’t bad.  Slow, but not bad.

David and Davey stayed home and played in the snow.  It was only about 12 degrees today, but they were out for a long time.  (It was bright and sunny.) They built snow walls.  David piled snow at the bottom of the playground slides for Davey to slide into (into which for Davey to slide <– that just made me laugh).  They marched.  (They were marching home when I got home.)

As for knitting, I almost have the back of The Sweater done for the second time.  I am also knitting a pretty shawlette.  I need to put some pictures up, but the shawl won’t reveal its full beauty until I get it done and blocked.  It’s all bunched up on my needles.  I am using the handspun that I bought from “Murderous Honey” at the craft show.  It’s an addictive yarn to knit.  The colors change and it is in such pretty shades of green.

It will be a nice evening to knit.  Cold, but David has a great fire going.

Oh!  I wore my Boyfriend Socks today.  Nobody knew it but me, but they sure were comfortable.  I wondered how comfortable that Knit Picks Palette yarn would be because it is not super soft, but they were great.  The Boyfriend socks – and a flashback to a warmer season:

I made a torte last night to welcome in the new year.  This was the birthday cake we always had as kids.  I think I had previously only tried this recipe one time in my entire life.  It is a little tricky.  Egg whites being beaten to peaks, folding in the white mixture carefully,  and it was a little tough to get out of the tube pan cleanly.

When we were kids, Mom always told us not to stomp around the house when the cake was in the oven.  We didn’t want to cause the cake to fall. I told Davey that we needed to be quiet yesterday while the cake was in the oven, and so he insisted that we whisper especially when we were in the kitchen.

He liked helping me make the whipped cream, and he liked eating it even more.  The cake itself turned out nice.  I had some problems getting it out of the pan, but the small dents were nothing a little whipped cream couldn’t hide.

I always liked chocolate chips on my cake, so I put those on.  I also liked chocolate pudding and cherries for the filling, but David and Davey would have gone running for the hills, and I would have had to eat the entire cake, so I went with vanilla pudding for one layer and plain whipped cream for the other.  (If whipped cream mixed with a little vanilla and powdered sugar can be plain.  I don’t think there’s much better!)

So have a Happy New Year’s Day!  I think it’s time for a little piece of cake.  (another post birthday morning tradition.)

Please pretend to see 11 candles on the cake.  2011 would have been a bit too many, and I actually only had 9.

Yesterday Davey took his first ride on his sled.  Not a lot of snow had fallen, but there was just enough.  It actually was a little faster than when we went back out this morning.  There were several more inches this morning, and so the little bitty hill was slower.

We got several more inches overnight.  I just came in.  It is about 4 degrees out.  I think it is supposed to be 12 today.  That is cold.  But we were bundled up in coats, snow pants, snow boots, and several cpeezers knits!

Davey and David are still at the playground.  It may not be easy getting him (Davey that is!) inside.  He is flying, absolutely flying down all the slides and tubes.  He emerges from the tube in the midst of a small slide avalanche.

Then David was shaking the snow down from the top of the equipment which Davey found hilarious.  I never get tired of taking Davey laughing photos.

As I am writing, David did get Davey inside.  I looked out the window and saw David balancing two large snowballs stacked on top of each other.  They carried snowballs home.  Somehow that inspired Davey to come in.

Now we are all warm once again.  We have a fire going.  It’s really the first time since we left Oklahoma (when we were 20 years old), that we have had a fire going.  We love it.

Ok Davey wants to continue with the New Year’s Eve preparations.  We are getting to make a torte.  I have only made one once or twice in my life.  I hope it turns out.  It’s our Happy Birthday to 2011 cake!

Davey got a new bicycle for Christmas.  His first bike.

Riding a bike is not too easy at first.  I’d forgotten that. Even with training wheels it takes a little getting used to.  Davey hopped right on and began practicing.

I am not sure what was going on here.  Davey was making a run for it.

Then he was focused again.

And then he decided that bikes are multi-purpose vehicles.  (He tends to find multiple uses and variations for all his toys.)

As I write this, I can look out the window and see where Davey was riding yesterday.  Today the snow has begun to fall and is gradually getting deeper.  Davey is ready to go sledding now!

We made it back home last night.  We got ambitious and decided to drive it all in one day.  It really wasn’t bad at all.  Took us 12 hours.  Davey did great.  I  have to say he entertains himself so well in his carseat.  He just played and played.

Today though he is “poop-ted”.  I need to go to the grocery store.  He does not want anything to do with his carseat, and I can not blame him.  So I will wait until David returns from picking up the dogs.

I am going to make a little post Christmas dinner for us.  We still have some presents for Davey here, and so we will have one more little celebration. I have to try to redeem myself for my Thanksgiving dressing which you could slice and use for sandwich bread.  It was tasty, but the consistency was not right.

David drove all the way to Oklahoma and back.  Usually I pitch in, but this time I just knitted.  I knitted so much that my right forearm is sore.  I was knitting hats all the way back, and I was even able to knit in the dark.  I think I may have done just a little too much knitting.

I started THE SWEATER.  I am working on the back and have started the first colorwork section.  Tomorrow I will put up some pictures.  I’ve also gotten busy on my Joy of Sox sock again.  I have been a total slacker on my Joy of Sox project.

I tried to document our trip, but I had a tendency to forget my camera, so I had to rely on family and friends for some of these photos!

Christmas Morning.  Davey was ready to open presents.  I love his expression when he first saw the tree and presents from Santa.

As he opened each present, he’d say “It’s just what I always wanted!”

He was very interested in seeing what his cousin Addie had as well.  I love seeing them together here.

We had second Christmas Day (26th) with my family.  I’d knitted a little owl and a penguin for my nieces. (The owl pattern was from the winter Knit Simple, and the penguin was from Knitty.  Both were very fun patterns.)

One of the highlights of our trip home was the mini reunion with old friends.  (Old refers to the length of our friendships, not their ages – although I guess at some point that will become one and the same.)  Davey played with the four children of two friends (married to each other) whom we’ve known since we were all kids.  Brandon and Angie (the parents) graduated with my sister.  I used to babysit Angie and her 2 younger sisters. David was best friends with Brandon’s older brother, and he still is great friends with him actually.  So it was really neat for us to see Davey playing with their kids.  They really hit it off and had a big time.

A BIG time.

Then they played a game where they all gathered in a small group.  They must have been putting their hands in the middle.

And then – Big finish!

We had so many good visits.  A great Christmas in Oklahoma.